“How can one speak of democracy to people of Ukraine, Belarus or Moldova, and at the same time, turn a blind eye to a threat to democracy in Poland? Silence would be a hypocrisy.” – says Lyudmyla Kozlovska, President of the Open Dialogue Foundation in her interview for Newsweek.
An extensive interview with Lyudmyla Kozlovska was released on 11 August this year. In this interview, the ODF President explained the rationale behind the Foundation’s statement on the current situation in Poland and rebutted false claims propagated by the right-wing media in order to discredit the Foundation both nationally and abroad. She also described the repercussions faced by herself, Bartosz Kramek, and the rest of the ODF team. “There is a tax inspection. A group of seven inspectors comes in. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has called us to delete my husband’s entry… The Foundation has now suspended its work, the inspectors have taken over our records and all that hassle upsets our sponsors, we may lose some of them. The ruling party politicians express hostile opinions about us. Stanisław Pięta, MP of the Law and Justice has once twitted: “Get out of Poland”. This way he has just reminded me that I am Ukrainian, and I am not at home. Perhaps one day they will cancel my residence permit and deport me out of country. Perhaps the same fate will be shared by those of us, who are not Polish nationals. And there is this general online hate, phone threats. But that is not the worse part. If I would like to invite anyone from Moldova or Belarus for a training, they will not be allowed to come. Polish embassies will refuse to issue visas for them. We have been blacklisted.” – says Kozlovska.
The Source: Newsweek.pl.
Read other texts:
- Krytyka Polityczna: Open Dialogue Foundation targeted by pro-government media
- Wielowieyski for Gazeta Wyborcza: Open Dialog at a crossroads
- Bartosz Kramek for Radio Zet: “Concession is something we have never concealed”
- TVN24 about the attack on ODF ”We have already got used to tapped telephones”
- Wirtualna Polska about the media and government’s smear campaign against ODF
- Gazeta.pl’s account on the TVP Channel’s distortions of the truth on the ODF activities
- Marcin Święcicki: The reports on the ODF are false
- The Open Dialogue Foundation in “Teraz Ja!” program: We feel the pressure, it is a violation of human rights
- Kramek at “Dryjańska naTemat”: We need to stand firm against extermination of NGOs. We have already seen that happening in Russia
- naTemat rebuts conspiracy theories concerning the ODF and Google Inc.’s support for political opposition in Poland
- Onet analyses Marcin Rey’s report on the ODF. “Another attack on the Foundation and yet another disgrace”
- ‘We are here to defend democracy’ – Lyudmyla Kozlovska and Bartosz Kramek in an interview for Gazeta Wyborcza
- Onet: The Government does not want an Open Dialog
- “We see the Ministry’s call as censorship” – Bartosz Kramek comments on the Ministry’s letter
- Polsat News covers the speech of Bartosz Kramek at OSCE/ODIHR HDIM 2017 side event
See also:
- Open Dialogue Foundation’s statement of 21 July 2017 on the dismantling of the rule of law in Poland
- Open Dialogue Foundation’s statement of 23 July 2017
- The statement of the decision of the President of the Republic of Poland of 24 July 2017 regarding the judiciary reform
- The Open Dialogue Foundation’s statement of 31 July 2017 (funding and donors, or a few words about ‘soroses’)
